If Old MacDonald had a farm, it probably wouldn’t be in downtown Mount Airy — which will still have a distinctly agricultural appearance for the annual Mayberry Farm Fest this weekend, when a late supporter also is remembered.
Brent Hull was a longtime participant in a Friday night tractor parade through the central business district which kicks off the annual festival there the next day, and aided the gathering overall.
“He always bought tractors,” Gail Hiatt, chief organizer for Mayberry Farm Fest, said of Hull, who died on New Year’s Day at age 62 after a long fight with cancer.
It was thought that a fitting way to honor Hull’s involvement would be to have his family collectively serve as grand marshal of the parade that he was part of for so many years.
“He had been with the festival since Day One,” said Hiatt. “This is number 18.”
Hull, Hiatt added, “was very helpful” to Mayberry Farm Fest as a whole during that time. Yet he especially enjoyed riding in the tractor parade, mirroring his love for old cars, trucks and tractors, which included a collection said to be plentiful.
The 2024 tractor parade is scheduled to roll through downtown Mount Airy this Friday at 6 p.m., with a popular kids parade unfolding afterward.
About 60 tractors were included in the adult procession last year, which could be exceeded Friday.
“It could be as many as 75 — it just depends on the weather,” according to Hiatt, who knows a bit about those conveyances due to her father, the late Charlie Hull, founding Mount Airy Tractor Co. in the 1950s.
Hiatt is now the manager of Mt. Airy Tractor Co. Inc.-Toyland located downtown.
From Massey Ferguson to Case, the display of models at the parade usually is varied and showcases tractor history down through the years.
After the two parades, North Main Street will be closed Friday night to allow Mayberry Farm Fest to be set up for its scheduled start at 9 a.m. Saturday, with the tractors to remain there to be viewed.
The festival will last until 6 p.m. Saturday.
Admission is free for Friday’s and Saturday’s events, which are spearheaded by the Downtown Business Association and funded partly by a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council.
Food, history are focus
Mayberry Farm Fest will feature a number of attractions Saturday in addition to the tractors, such as live music and dancing.
Bands to perform include The Twin Creeks String Band, Gap Civil, Mountain Blessings and Leftover Biscuits.
Further planned are pony rides by HDK Ranch of Jonesville and other children’s activities including animal displays, face painting, inflatables and more.
Agricultural, craft and food vendors also will take center stage at Farm Fest.
“We’ll have the most craft vendors we’ve ever had,” Hiatt said. “We’ve probably got 35 to 40.”
The Farm Fest organizer mentioned that the list is carefully monitored to ensure only authentically crafted items — not “any kind of junk or carnival things” — are offered.
Strawberries also are to be on hand from an entity called The Farm, with two plant vendors slated, including an appearance by Mitchell’s Nursery from the Pinnacle area for the first time.
Another highlight will be a man setting up a gristmill for grinding shelled corn, who then will give away small bags of the cornmeal that results to festival attendees.
Agricultural-oriented organizations to have a presence at Farm Fest on Saturday will include North Carolina Cooperative Extension.
One objective of the event is to drive home the point that items showing up on the table for mealtimes don’t originate at the grocery store.
“We’re trying to make people remember they wouldn’t be fed without the farmers,” Hiatt explained.
That was another interest of Brent Hull’s besides tractors. He was an avid gardener known for sharing his many homegrown fruits and vegetables with family members, friends and neighbors, especially widows and widowers in his church family.
“We also are trying to remember history,” Hiatt said of keeping old-time farming practices alive, which in some cases have fallen by the wayside of time.
Farm Fest is a means of making sure those traditions that remain are highlighted and preserved.
But at the end of the day, Farm Fest is a way to escape all the political and other turmoil now occurring and get back to basics.
“It’s just a fun day for the kids,” Hiatt said.
“We just want everybody to come out and have fun.”
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